The Beacon Arts Building (BAB) continues its Critics-as-Curators series with TEL-ART-PHONE, a unique art exhibition that investigates the creative process by mimicking the classic children’s game of “Telephone,” opening Saturday, May 28, 2011. Curated by Coagula Founder Mat Gleason, TEL-ART-PHONE, kicks-off with an opening reception featuring live painting and catering by Literati Bar & Grill from 6:00 to 10:00pm on May 28. Among the 80+ artists contributing works to the show are Ray Beldner, Tim Biskup, Coop, Sean Duffy, Carlee Fernandez, Gronk, George Herms, Rosalind McGary, Dave Naz, and Robert Williams.  The exhibit runs for five weeks closing on Sunday, July 3, 2011 with a Critics-as-Curators panel discussion and brunch reception from 1:00 to 4:00pm. Artist panel discussions will also be held on three consecutive Sundays: June 12, June 19, and June 26 at 2:00pm.

For Immediate Release:                                                                                                                                                   May 9, 2011

The Beacon Arts Building Presents
TEL-ART-PHONE
An 80+ Artist Exhibition
Based on the Classic Game “Telephone”
Curated by Mat Gleason
Saturday, May 28 – Sunday, July 3, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Beacon Arts Building (BAB) continues its Critics-as-Curators series with TEL-ART-PHONE, a unique art exhibition that investigates the creative process by mimicking the classic children’s game of “Telephone,” opening Saturday, May 28, 2011. Curated by Coagula Founder Mat Gleason, TEL-ART-PHONE, kicks-off with an opening reception featuring live painting, catering by Literati Bar & Grill, and drinks provided by O.N.E. Coconut Water from 6:00 to 10:00pm on May 28. Among the 80+ artists contributing works to the show are Ray Beldner, Tim Biskup, Coop, Sean Duffy, Carlee Fernandez, Gronk, George Herms, Rosalind McGary, Dave Naz, and Robert Williams.  The exhibit runs for five weeks closing on Sunday, July 3, 2011 with a Critics-as-Curators panel discussion and brunch reception from 1:00 to 4:00pm. Artist panel discussions will also be held on three consecutive Sundays: June 12, June 19, and June 26 at 2:00pm. Beacon Arts is located at 808 N. La Brea Ave., Inglewood, CA 90302.  For additional information please call 310-621-5416 or visit http://www.beaconartsbuilding.com as well as http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inglewood-CA/Beacon-Arts-Building/129817703733091?v=info.

TEL-ART-PHONE Curator’s Statement -
Over eighty contemporary artists have been assembled for TEL-ART-PHONE, a unique art exhibition that investigates the creative process. Mimicking the classic children’s game of “Telephone,” the work of one artist was lent to another artist to inspire a new artwork. The resulting piece was then passed on to another artist who had no idea what the first artwork looked like. Down the line, this was repeated and the results will be displayed, in order, in the show.

Artists from diverse mediums are in the show — from abstract painter Michael Salerno to the master of lowbrow realism Robert Williams. Mid-century master George Herms shares the walls with assemblage artist Sean Duffy. A drawing by Lisa Adams is transformed by painter Yolanda Gonzalez. Will painter Andy Moses rise to the occasion when he inherits a sculpture by Maura Bendett, itself based on work inspired by both a paper drawing by Leigh Salgado and a painting by Suzanne Williams?  Can illustration legend Coop improve upon a Dave Naz nude? Can pop surrealist Anthony Ausgang actually influence the political leanings in the art of Amitis Motevalli? These and other dichotomous combinations are assembled in TEL-ART-PHONE. Curator Mat Gleason has brought together the closest thing to an illustration of the creative process that can be experienced short of actually going inside a leading artist’s brain. Established art stars and emerging forces all show up and interact. From Tim Biskup and Ray Beldner to Rosalind McGary and Pierre Picot, artists have been turning out pictures for this show every two weeks since January. Come see 80 contemporary masterpieces each based on the one created before it.  – Mat Gleason

TEL-ART-PHONE Participating Artists -
Lisa Adams, Suzanne Adelman, Anthony Ausgang, Vicki Barkley, Ray Beldner, Sharon Bell, Maura Bendett, Lynne Berman, Lili Bernard, Tim Biskup, Ilana Bloch, Justin Bower, Mark Brandvik, Bill Brewer, Wini Brewer, Sky Bruchard, Rude Calderon, Gary Callahan, Lavialle Campbell, Coop, Alex Couwenberg, Sean Duffy, Martin Durazo, Val Echavarria, Carol Es, Ruben Esparza, Roni Feldman, Carlee Fernandez, Barbara Fritsche, Yolanda Gonzalez, Gronk, Doug Harvey, George Herms, Anneke Hiatt, Iva Hladis, Virginia Katz, Barbara Kerwin, Richard Kessler, Mark Kostabi, Catherine Roberts Leach, Laura London, Vito LoRusso, Stevie Love, Leora Lutz, Michael Maas, Kara Maria, Gregory Martin, Rosalind McGary, Antonio Mendoza, Steph Mercado, Rick Monzon, Andy Moses, Amitis Motevalli, Dave Naz, Jonas Olsson, Joe O’Neill, Claudia Parducci, Christopher Pate, Josh Petker, Pierre Picot, William Rabe, Stu Rappeport, Michael Salerno, Leigh Salgado, Alex Schaefer, Joan Sebastian, Veronica Soto, Laurie Steelink, Gina Stepaniuk, Audrey Stommes, Mike Street, Sharon Suhovy, Adam Teraoka, Lava Thomas, Juan Thorp, Mike Vegas, Robert Williams, Suzanne Williams, Lisa Worksman, and Tim Youd.

Mat Gleason, Critic-as-Curator -
Mat Gleason is the founder of Coagula Art Journal, contributes to the Huffington Post, and is a well-established personality in the Los Angeles art scene.

Co-Curators -
Maria Bjorkdahl, Charity Burnett, Lavialle Campbell, Victoria Corradi, Lester P. Grant, Neil Gitnick, Shizuko Greenblatt, Virginia Katz, Dominic Quagliozzi, and Anita Ray.

Critics-as-Curators Series -
Critics-as-Curators is the inaugural art exhibition series at the Beacon Arts Building.  In recognition of the gallery’s first year, esteemed art critics and writers — recognized locally, nationally and internationally — have been invited to conceive and curate shows of their choosing at the Beacon Arts Building in conjunction with discussions, lectures, catalogues, or other ways to reveal the thought process behind why exhibition works are chosen with insight into their importance to the curator. The individual expertise and personal taste developed by the curators’ world-view will be on exhibit throughout Beacon Arts’ first year. Critics-as-Curators strives to enrich appreciation of contemporary fine art by critically engaging in art. This series of shows provides a wonderful opportunity for artists and art audiences to learn what individual critics look for, how they think about the art they choose to focus on, and what catches their eye. The series kicked off in October 2010 with Ghost Stories: Happenings, Hauntings, & Curiosities curated by art writer Shana Nys Dambrot, followed by Peter Frank‘s exhibition, Densities: Line Becoming Shape, Shape Becoming Object in December/January, David Pagel’s Pieceable Kingdom in February/March, and most recently, Arataland! A Mid-Career Survey of Artworks by Michael Arata curated by Doug Harvey up through May 22, 2011.

Continuing Critics-as-Curators Exhibition Schedule -
• 3/26/11 – 5/22/11 – Arataland! A Mid-Career Survey of Artworks by Michael Arata curated by Doug Harvey – http://www.greengalactic.com/2011/beacon-arts-arataland

• 5/28/11 – 7/3/11 – TEL-ART-PHONE curated by Mat Gleason

• Future BAB exhibitions TBD

Beacon Arts-
A brand-new, risk-taking fine arts enterprise, housed within the iconic Beacon Arts Building, the venture offers innovative art programming to enrich the cultural landscape of Los Angeles. Its primary directive is to provide and maintain the integrity of an exhibition space for contemporary art by Southern California artists working in all media, including painting, sculpture, installation, video, and performance art. Works by both emerging and established artists will be presented in an effort to provide a variety of ideas in different forms that both challenge and inspire. As a catalyst and advocate for new ideas, the endeavor enriches public understanding and appreciation of contemporary fine art by creating conversations through special events, lectures, symposia, and panel discussions with intellectual commentary on exhibitions. Exhibiting artists are encouraged to forge new relationships and learn from arts professionals through programming such as the gallery’s inaugural Critics-as-Curators series – consecutive shows conceived and curated by art writers and critics. This series runs through the first year of the space, from October 2010 to October 2011. Regular gallery hours are from 1:00 to 6:00pm Thursday through Saturday; Sundays 1:00 – 4:00pm.

Beacon Arts Building -
The 32,400-square-foot Beacon Arts Building is an iconic four-story, solid reinforced concrete structure located in the heart of the burgeoning Arts District in North Inglewood. Having stored inanimate items for close to sixty years, originally as the legendary Bekins Moving and Storage Company, this dramatic, 1951 edifice is now transforming into a springboard for artistic expression.  In addition to ground floor gallery and retail spaces, the building provides a gorgeous New York warehouse-style environment for professional artists, currently offering work studio spaces in various sizes up to 8,000 square feet with 11’6” ceilings.  It has a high rear loading facility, large freight elevator, WiFi availability, and sprinkler system throughout. Beacon Arts Building sits prominently on La Brea Avenue, located just 11 minutes south of the 10 Freeway (I-10).  Ample on-site parking is available as well as on the adjacent streets.  For further information about availabilities in the Beacon Arts Building, please contact Scott Lane at 310-576-3543 or scottlaneco@yahoo.com.

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For more information, images, and interviews please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

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Shown sequentially, three artists play “telephone” in Mat Gleason’s TEL-ART-PHONE exhibition:

Rick Monzon

Gregory Martin

Mark Brandvik

"Eyes Nose Mouth" - photo credit: Noemie Lafrance

Dance Camera West (DCW), recognized internationally for its month-long presentation and celebration of dance on screen, announces its Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival screening at venues throughout Southern California in June 2010. Dance on screen, or screendance, is a unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography. The festival includes screendance as well as all forms of dance media. “The hybrid screendance medium is diverse, encompassing a broad range of cinematography styles, exhibition formats, and subject matter traversing global perspectives,” says Dance Camera West founder and director, Lynette Kessler… For Immediate Release: January 27, 2010

Dance Camera West
Announces Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival
Throughout Los Angeles – June 2010

LOS ANGELES, CA – Dance Camera West (DCW), recognized internationally for its month-long presentation and celebration of dance on screen, announces its Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival screening at venues throughout Southern California in June 2010. Dance on screen, or screendance, is a unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography. The festival includes screendance as well as all forms of dance media. “The hybrid screendance medium is diverse, encompassing a broad range of cinematography styles, exhibition formats, and subject matter traversing global perspectives,” says Dance Camera West founder and director, Lynette Kessler, “The festival includes everything from experimental shorts to documentaries – ranging from surreal visual abstractions to strict narratives.” Once again DCW partners with the city’s most prominent venues in offering a host of screenings, installations, and panel discussions with visiting international artists. Please visit DCW’s website for continuous updates at www.dancecamerawest.org. See below for a preliminary schedule of events.

Dance Camera West’s Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival opens at the REDCAT Theater in downtown LA, with its celebrated opening night party on Friday, June 4, 2010. The opening weekend program, “ScreenDance: A New Visual Language,” will captivate audiences on Friday and Saturday night with three separate presentations of short films from around the world. The following weekend, DCW will present two days of programming at the Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theatre on Saturday, June 12 and Sunday, June 13 (program TBD). On the evening of June 19th, DCW showcases work from Los Angeles-based creators in its “Local Makers” program with an entertaining outdoor, community event at the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center. For the first time, DCW’s “Local Makers” program will include student work. Look also for events in collaboration with the Goethe Institute, Los Angeles Film Festival, and American Cinematheque.

Known as one of the world’s premiere presenters of dance media, Dance Camera West aspires to awaken and infuse the public mainstream with critical creative programming. DCW has expanded the audience for dance in Southern California with the presentation of more than 1,000 dance films from 43 countries since its inception in 2002.

“Dance media is pushing art in a new direction,” says Kessler, “as choreographers and directors continue to stretch our imagination and change the way we think about dance.”

Dance Camera West founder and executive/artistic director Lynette Kessler is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, and media artist with an MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan and a BFA in Dance from York University in Toronto. Known for her innovative collaborations and dance work for the screen that have been shown in film festivals worldwide, Kessler has received numerous awards including a Lester Horton Dance Award, Alden B. Dow Creativity Fellowship, and an artist residency at Headlands Center for the Arts. She is a founding member of Media & Dance Network (MAD), has served on dance film review committees for EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center), American Choreography Awards, Dance on Camera Festival in New York, Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film in Toronto, and is a guest lecturer at UCLA, UC Irvine, and Cal Arts. Kessler sits on the board of directors for the following organizations: Buckminster Fuller Institute, Dance Channel TV, and the California Ear Unit. She is an active member of the advocacy groups: Arts for LA, California Arts Advocates, and Americans for the Arts. And she’s also on the Media Arts Advisory Committee to guide the new Media Arts initiative creating a fifth arts discipline for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

Dance Camera West is a nonprofit organization committed to fostering and promoting the vibrant art of dance media from around the world. DCW aims to bridge the unique mix of film and dance communities in Los Angeles through the exploration of this hybrid genre. DCW also strives to create a broader and more engaged audience for dance and dance media by merging both performance and cinematic aesthetics. DCW is one of only a handful of organizations in the world that present dance media and the only one of its kind on the West Coast. The 2008 and 2009 festivals were featured in FOX News segments, Los Angeles Magazine selected Dance Camera West as its “Pick of the Month” for the June 2008 issue, the Los Angeles Times selected the Dance Camera West Dance Media Film Festival as one of the “Ten Best” dance events in Los Angeles for 2006 and 2007, and DCW was voted one of the “Top 25 Dance Organizations to Watch” by Dance Magazine in 2005 and 2006.

In addition to the planning of the upcoming June 2010 festival, Dance Camera West is also preparing a special 10-year anniversary event for 2011. In celebration of this milestone, the organization will host an international Dance Media Symposium in downtown Los Angeles, bringing together artists, dancers, educators, and film/television industry professionals. With a working title of Dance Media: The Active Spectrum, conference participants from the dance and media worlds will come together for a conversation on the exciting opportunities for expansive growth, creative expression, and innovation offered by new media. In addition to a full program of evening screenings, the 2011 anniversary event will also include a unique series of daytime panel presentations, guest speakers, and networking opportunities. A steering committee for the conference is being formed with notable artists and leaders from the international dance media community.

This year’s 2010 Dance Camera West festival is supported in part by Mortimer Levitt Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

See below for DCW’s June 2010 Festival Schedule as of 1/27/10:

➢ Fri. June 4 [8:00pm] and Sat. June 5 [6:00pm & 8:00pm] at REDCAT [downtown LA]
“Screendance: A New Visual Language” (contains adult content) – Opening Night Friday!
Opening night screening and party on Friday followed by two different screening programs on Saturday. In three unique screenings over two days, this collection of innovative dance films from around the world explores the intersection between movement and cinema.
- Fri. June 4 – 8:00pm – Screening and Opening Night Reception
- Sat. June 5 – 6:00pm screening & 8:00pm screening (all three screenings different)

REDCAT, Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex)
631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213 237-2800; http://redcat.org)
- Tickets $15 opening night ($10 for CalArts or DCW members), $10 for other screenings ($7 for CalArts or DCW members)

➢ Sat. June 12 [7:00pm] and Sun. June 13 [2:00pm & 6:00pm] at the Hammer Museum [Westwood]
Programs TBD – Three Programs over Two Days at the Hammer

Hammer Museum – Billy Wilder Theater
10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310-443-7000; www.hammer.ucla.edu)
- FREE admission, no reservations required; seating is first come first served

➢ Sat. June 19 [8:00 – 10:00pm] at Cheviot Hills Recreation Center [West LA]
“Local Makers – LA Choreographers and Directors” – Outdoor Screening
Dance Camera West presents an outdoor screening event whereby the park will be transformed into a cinematic cross-cultural display with four different screening areas. Student work will be included for the first time. K – 12 students from LAUSD have been invited to submit work (the Call for Entries ends April 15, 2010).
Even though all the films have one thing in common – they were all created by Los Angeles- based choreographers and directors – they’re as diverse as the Southern California landscape itself. The program presents everything under the sun (or moon in this case) during this family-friendly evening. Bring a flashlight, something to sit on, and join in the fun under the stars.

Cheviot Hills Recreation Center
2551 Motor Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90064 (310-837-4233)
- FREE admission, no reservations required

➢ Wed. June 30 [time TBA] at Goethe-Institute [mid-Wilshire]
A new documentary by Anne Linsel will screen as part of a special Pina Bausch Celebration at Goethe-Institute, the German cultural institution (more info TBA).

Goethe-Institute
5750 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323-525-3388; www.goethe.de/enindex.htm)
- price TBD

More June dates, venues and programs TBA for Dance Camera West’s Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival. Please visit DCW’s website for continuous updates – www.dancecamerawest.org.

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For more information, press passes, photos, or to interview DCW’s founder Lynette Kessler, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty at 213-840-1201 or lynn [at] greengalactic.com.